Colour Me Red
by DJ Broken Wang
Summary: How do you really understand the most know colour in the society? Ask Haru, she knows. A Secret Santa fic that is in need to solve the mysterious man first before ending the whole story. Guess who's the man Haru tied her red string of fate to! Let's get those brains going ne


Hello my dear readers! I apologise on being absent for the previous dates. I was just caught up on my new job, I have to memorise everything before I lost my free time to fail. And before I knew it, I forgot that I have my muse with me!

As a token of apology, I wrote this fic for mi own version of 'Secret Santa,' but don't expect that there is a Santa and gifts, ok. We're all grown-up to believe that. Give children some credit to dream.

And as a part of my mystery fic, try and guess who was the guy Haru was referring to before you reached the biggest clues. And please, no peeking!

Disclaimer: I can't believe Amano-sensei owned this pairing :(

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Colour Me Red

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Define the color of red.

The question is simple, yet the answers are ample.

Red is the most visible and the first color of the rainbow. Its vibrant hue reaches your eyes the first time you glance at it. It is so catchy, it symbolises luck, as what her five-year-old little I-pin-chan said.

Red is like an eye-catcher. Notice that the numbers labeled in Sundays from calendars are labeled red? Do you also noticed there are numbers coloured in red if there is a celebration? Why are the numbers labelled in red? Because it reminds us that those dates indicate that there are no classes involved. It also reminds us that those days remind us that every Sunday is a fresh start of the week. That is also the reason why your teachers uses red ink in checking your paper, to remind you of the items you have to improve.

Red is also the colour mainly used as mascots' shade inmost-celebrated occasions. It was said that Saint Valentin and Cupid, the god of love, wore this kind of colour when they proclaimed their love to their promised one. That, or that was the story still believed by tradition. saint Nicholas also wore that colour, right?

Well, those information were really academic and too superficial if you already took the path of peope we call life.

The twenty-four year old brunette surmised as she strolled the chilly night of winter festival, following the twittering bird she found her comfort to. She glanced behind, feeling his gaze towards her. And there he was, with his navy coat and his lips lifting upwards. Ah... it was so nice to see him smile. Now, Haru Miura understood what the elders said when she was rebellious middle-schooler who often misunderstood her father every single day.

Regardless of her being in her mid-twenties, Haru could still say that she obtained that wisdom. Indeed, those silly interpretations of that colour are not what they perceived to be. Rather, they served as bases to support the reality ahead.

The first event she experienced the colour was when she met him after the final lunch bell was heard through the whole Namimori Senior High campus. She had just jumped from one of the black fences, and was standing outside with slumped shoulders.

"Hahi... finally... I can go back to my school..."

That was not a typical Haru response coming out of her mouth. It was supposed to be an alive and very optimistic Haru Miura who didn't want to go out yet. But this... is a very rare sight.

She began her long trek to her school, but a voice stopped her on her tracks. She didn't know if she stopped deliberately or her stubborn side was still optimistic that it was still the person who rejected her a while ago. However, she stiffened and sported a big grin which was unnatural, when she turned around to the person who called to get her attention.

She still kept that hoax of a smile when he asked her about her wheabouts with hardened facial expression and a glare from his eyes. He was just standing back up, signalling to not bother him again (from his chosen set of words, she bet), hut he froze from a half-step when he noticed something different.

Then, he asked if she was alright walking back. She stood straight, her defiant nature kicking back its gear, and boasted that she was always great. But that's fooiish because that's not true.

That was the moment she noticed something trickling on her forehead and the stinging sensation on her left knee.

Thinking that he might scold her due from her clumsiness and high-up-in-the-sky attitude, she turned back to where she was walking to in order to avoid the brewing argument, when the heat of the person's clammy hand spread through her forearm.

What she didn't expect the most was he wordlessly pulled her to the nearest bench to let her sit on as he tended to her wounds.

She was pondering about his facial features when they met for the first time, when he was forced out of his comforted personal abode, and today. All of them being indifferent or stern at the same time, but the way his eyes widen with worry and slightly and slightly tremble when he saw her today made her think that he was still a human, after all.

"You're a woman, you should take care of yourself." That's what he said.

That was the first time she felt it.

What do they call it?

Ah...

The red of embarassment.

She just remembered her dad said that like he was a teenager with puppy love directed towards her late mother.

She felt that red spreading throughout her face exploding like a bomb, as the first tear dropped to his hand which held the last tip of the bandage.

No words were exchanged as he offered his pristine white uniform to be stained with her tears as she sacrifised her lost love to start anew.

Who knows, she might find a new red.

Then, she experienced it again when he suddenly barged in their house, one pouring night ago. She had just arived from one of the sessions of the preparatory school her father's friend recommended, and was reading the recent notes in order for her to pass the entrance examination of one of the best colleges in Tokyo. She was still an aspiring cosplay designer, but wants to be like her father, so she was planning to take both on her wing.

She was taking temporary refuge from a mug of chocolate and a recently-bought Vogue magazine, when a rapid set of door raps destroyed the tranquility of the evening rain on a surprisingly summer season.

Then she found him, huddled on the left side of the wooden door frame, all wet and looking for relief from the tempest of the night sky with the help of the little roof provided by the small shed created by their doorway.

Like what a sane person would do, the brunette opened their house door to let the man in, but her sanity slightly wavered when she saw him in the full light. He wasstill wearing the same clothes, same fringe, same air of indifference. The only different was he had a red face. She had asked if he was drunk, but she only received a soft glare before his knees weakened and fell forward. When she caught him, she realised that the redness from his face was caused by a high fever.

She was practically aware that this man value his self-ego and his pride and capabilities. But inthis state, he looked like a helpless, vulnerable child. Even he is a human, too.

So, she did what her grandma did as the fastest method to cure a fever. After loaning him a dry set of clothes which are two size larger than him, she wiped his face with a warm wet cloth and dried his hair with her own bath towel. Then, she dragged him with her to her room and laid him down on her bed. She wouldn't risk her father seeing a male visitor making himself at home with his daughter and her house all by herself. Hahi, that would be bad.

His hand shot up to reach her hand for nothing but air. It was a funny scene, realy, because her hand was just an inch away from what he was reaching to.

Now, she couldn't leave him alone. Even if he chase her away.

Then, she thought of the way to give him the fever reducer. Even though she was trudging to dangerous waters, she had no choice but to invade his personal bubble. With a medicine in her hand and a glass of water on the other, she delivered them both to him with her mouth. As romantic as it looked, it still scared her when he suddenly opened his eyes with a shocked expression and failed an attempt to push her away due from the same dilemma, to her relief.

Red is TLC. Tender. Loving. Care.

When she wok up, she was still in her room. But to her surprise, she was no longer sitting on the chair beside her bed. Instead, she was tucked under his chin... on her bed. She looked up, only to find him still red on the face and staring at her back.

Just looking at his eyes... it made her all fuzzy and what's this?! She found herself reminiscing the not-so-innocent mistake she did last night with a fast set of heartbeats.

This sensation has been going on for three months now, ever since that heartbreak she experienced awhile back. She was feeling anxious, nervous, dizzy and self-conscious when he was around.

"Go out with me." was his command. Thank God his fever was gone.

She nodded her head dumbly, trying despite of failing, to think of what kind of sensation she feeling that way. There was nothing to be anxious of, or to be overly-conscious when she was with him.

So, why now?

It was a day later that she learned from a neighbor that he has been awake 24/7, gurding her house without a bat of an eyelash.

So, even in his lonesome, he still cared. She was alright with it.

But, why did it hurt?

What do elders call it? Red of compassion? No, that's too friendly.

Ah.

Red of love. So she's falling for him, right? But, he is too... right?

Hahi, she didn't know. But one thing's for sure. She knew they were no longer acquainted.

"Oh no, my balloon! It flew there. Momma, I let it go!"

"Don't worry, son. We can buy another one when we get home."

"No, I want that balloon! That's my friend!"

"Now, now, dear. Let's buy you some ice cream then - "

"NO!"

Haru's thoughts completely washed away when she heard a yell and a whine from the child. And when she looked, she saw a red balloon with its string tangling on one of the tree's branches.

She ran towards it, when he held her hand. Then he proceeded to jump on one of the sturdiest branches to untie the knot. He jumped down effortlessly as he brought the balloon back to the crying child. He then proceeded to walk alongside her as he muttered a complaint about bringing expanding rubbers in the middle of an evening festival, earning up a giggle and a silly smile from the brunette.

After a long walk of silence, she glanced at their linked hands. Then she asked, "Do you know the red string of fate?" All she received a short nod and a hum sounding like a 'Yes' to her.

Yes, she was well aware that they are opposites. But it is nice to have him in moments like this. She felt happy and contented.

They are nearing towards the popular Namimori Shrine when she looked up at the night sky, then she let up a cry of surprise when she saw a thread of light.

"Hahi! A shooting star - wait, wait! I'm going to make a wish, you too!"

Her companion just stood up, staring at her with a slight amusement in his eyes.

She turned to him after she make her own wish.

"What did you wish for?"

She held his hands with her own as she spoke, "Even if it's silly... I still wished that we will still be together forever and ever... "

She pouted when she received a raised eyebrow.

"I don't believe in wishes. Goals come through if you acted upon it." He lent his arm for her to link hers, then he continued. "Besides, I'm not wishing to make it happen. Nevertheless, I'm planning to."

"Hahi?... Wh - What do you mean?" She looked at him with a blushing face.

He just smirked as he proceeded to pull her towards the shrine which was suspiciously quiet. Her lover has been like this, he surprises her in days she never expected it to be. Like when he didn't show up for a week and just appeared when she opened a big box which contained the supposedly refrigerator for her birthday gift, as what her friend said. She couldn't stop crying after that, saying that she thought his love was burnt out, in which he greatly angered and pulled her back inside that very box. He said that she was - and still - the only one for him.

And surely enough, she saw her friends standing, forming a big pile of arc, with big lamps. Her father was surprisingly caught up with this scheme, as well as their freinds' parents. But what shocked her was that their shirts were labeled by letters arranged to a pattern that looked like a sentence.

"Wi... wi... will... y - yo... you... be... m - m - my... "

She was trying to read it aloud, but the rest of the sentence was blurred out due from the overwhelmed sensation that it reached her eyes. The man she was walking with faced her as he wiped her tears with his thumbs, as he bent on one knee and held a purple box.

"I know this is herbivorous to say... but everything's worth it if you agreed to be y wife. I love you, and I don't plan on letting you go."

With bucking knees and a tomato-red face, she stuttered his last name, when he abruptly stood up and held her shoulders. "Stop calling me that. I have been tolerating it for a while now... "

From the background, their friends shared a different set of reactions.

The decimo overly reacted, which earned him a kick on his face, courtesy of jios spartan of a tutor. His right-hand man was sporting a frown as he made fun of the proposal. The fifteen-year-olds cried at the loss of their favourite nee-chan to the next chapter of her maidenhood.

"Ahaha! You finally fought off your fear - "

"I will bite you to death, Yamamoto - "

"I do."

He looked at her again, leaning his ears closer so he could hear her. That's when he was fully emabraced by the woman he loved for ten years (longer than she do, actuallly), as she was shouting her answer while sobbing. "I DO! I DO! I DO - "

"Yes, I can hear you, Haru." He said as he embraced her back and buried his head in her hair in order to stiffle his reddening face.

Two months after that, Haru found herself kneeling on the altar wearing her mother's wedding dress with the person she loved.

So, if you, dear reader, and the priest, ask Haru what color red is, her answer's like this...

"Hibari Kyoya."

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This is when I tried and failed my effort to put some humor. In the end, I am still a hopeless romantic who never experienced what THEY did. And there's that guy I liked from my own fanfic on another anime~~~

Anyway, did you liked it? Sorry, my writing is becoming heavier and heavier as of this date. Probably, I should try and make a matured rating for a change.

But before that, put on your comments who did you guessed before the fanfic concludes. Did you suspect anyone else?


End file.
